AWSSupport-CopyEC2Instance - Amazon Systems Manager Automation runbook reference
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AWSSupport-CopyEC2Instance

Description

The AWSSupport-CopyEC2Instance runbook provides an automated solution for the procedure outlined in the Knowledge Center article How do I move my EC2 instance to another subnet, Availability Zone, or VPC? The automation branches depending on the values you specify for the Region and SubnetId parameters.

If you specify a value for the SubnetId parameter but not a value for the Region parameter, the automation creates an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) of the target instance and launches a new instance from the AMI in the subnet you specified.

If you specify a value for the SubnetId parameter and the Region parameter, the automation creates an AMI of the target instance, copies the AMI to the Amazon Web Services Region you specified, and launches a new instance from the AMI in the subnet you specified.

If you specify a value for the Region parameter but not a value for the SubnetId parameter, the automation creates an AMI of the target instance, copies the AMI to the Region you specified, and launches a new instance from the AMI in the default subnet of your virtual private cloud (VPC) in the destination Region.

If no value is specified for either the Region or SubnetId parameters, the automation creates an AMI of the target instance, and launches a new instance from the AMI in the default subnet of your VPC.

To copy an AMI to a different Region, you must provide a value for the AutomationAssumeRole parameter. If the automation times out during the waitForAvailableDestinationAmi step, the AMI might still be copying. If this is the case, you can wait for the copy to complete and launch the instance manually.

Before running this automation, note the following:

  • AMIs are based on Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) snapshots. For large file systems without a previous snapshot, AMI creation can take several hours. To decrease the AMI creation time, create an Amazon EBS snapshot before you create the AMI.

  • Creating an AMI doesn't create a snapshot for instance store volumes on the instance. For information about backing up instance store volumes to Amazon EBS, see How do I back up an instance store volume on my Amazon EC2 instance to Amazon EBS?

  • The new Amazon EC2 instance has a different private IPv4 or public IPv6 IP address. You must update all references to the old IP addresses (for example, in DNS entries) with the new IP addresses that are assigned to the new instance. If you're using an Elastic IP address on your source instance, be sure to attach it to the new instance.

  • Domain security identifier (SID) conflict issues can occur when the copy launches and tries to contact the domain. Before you capture the AMI, use Sysprep or remove the domain-joined instance from the domain to prevent conflict issues. For more information, see How can I use Sysprep to create and install custom reusable Windows AMIs?

Run this Automation (console)

Important

We do not recommend using this runbook to copy Microsoft Active Directory Domain Controller instances.

Document type

Automation

Owner

Amazon

Platforms

Linux, macOS, Windows

Parameters

  • AutomationAssumeRole

    Type: String

    Description: (Optional) The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) role that allows Systems Manager Automation to perform the actions on your behalf. If no role is specified, Systems Manager Automation uses the permissions of the user that starts this runbook.

  • InstanceId

    Type: String

    Description: (Required) The ID of the instance that you want to copy.

  • KeyPair

    Type: String

    Description: (Optional) The key pair you want to associate with the new copied instance. If you're copying the instance to a different Region, make sure the key pair exists in the specified Region.

  • Region

    Type: String

    Description: (Optional) The Region you want to copy the instance to. If you specify a value for this parameter, but do not specify values for the SubnetId and SecurityGroupIds parameters, the automation attempts to launch the instance in the default VPC with the default security group. If EC2-Classic is enabled in the destination Region, the launch will fail.

  • SubnetId

    Type: String

    Description: (Optional) The ID of the subnet you want to copy the instance to. If EC2-Classic is enabled in the destination Region, you must provide a value for this parameter.

  • InstanceType

    Type: String

    Description: (Optional) The instance type the copied instance should be launched as. If you do not specify a value for this parameter, the source instance type is used. If the source instance type is not supported in the Region the instance is being copied to, the automation fails.

  • SecurityGroupIds

    Type: String

    Description: (Optional) A comma-separated list of security group IDs you want to associate with the copied instance. If you do not specify a value for this parameter, and the instance is not being copied to a different Region, the security groups associated with the source instance are used. If you're copying the instance to a different Region, the default security group for the default VPC in the destination Region is used.

  • KeepImageSourceRegion

    Type: Boolean

    Valid values: true | false

    Default: true

    Description: (Optional) If you specify true for this parameter, the automation does not delete the AMI of the source instance. If you specify false for this parameter, the automation deregisters the AMI and deletes the associated snapshots.

  • KeepImageDestinationRegion

    Type: Boolean

    Valid values: true | false

    Default: true

    Description: (Optional) If you specify true for this parameter, the automation does not delete the AMI that is copied to the Region you specified. If you specify false for this parameter, the automation deregisters the AMI and deletes the associated snapshots.

  • NoRebootInstanceBeforeTakingImage

    Type: Boolean

    Valid values: true | false

    Default: false

    Description: (Optional) If you specify true for this parameter, the source instance will not be restarted before creating the AMI. When this option is used, file system integrity on the created image can't be guaranteed.

Required IAM permissions

The AutomationAssumeRole parameter requires the following actions to use the runbook successfully.

  • ec2:CreateImage

  • ec2:DeleteSnapshot

  • ec2:DeregisterImage

  • ec2:DescribeInstances

  • ec2:DescribeImages

  • ec2:RunInstances

If you're copying the instance to a different Region, you will also need the following permissions.

  • ec2:CopyImage

Document Steps

  • describeOriginalInstanceDetails - Gathers details from the instance to be copied.

  • assertRootVolumeIsEbs - Checks if the root volume device type is ebs, and if not, ends the automation.

  • evalInputParameters - Evaluates the values provided for the input parameters.

  • createLocalAmi - Creates an AMI of the source instance.

  • tagLocalAmi - Tags the AMI created in the previous step.

  • branchAssertRegionIsSame - Branches based on whether the instance is being copied within the same Region or to a different Region.

  • branchAssertSameRegionWithKeyPair - Branches based on whether a value was provided for the KeyPair parameter for an instance that's being copied within the same Region.

  • sameRegionLaunchInstanceWithKeyPair - Launches an Amazon EC2 instance from the AMI of the source instance in the same subnet or the subnet you specify using the key pair that you specified.

  • sameRegionLaunchInstanceWithoutKeyPair - Launches an Amazon EC2 instance from the AMI of the source instance in the same subnet or the subnet you specify without a key pair.

  • copyAmiToRegion - Copies the AMI to the destination Region.

  • waitForAvailableDestinationAmi - Waits for the copied AMI state to become available.

  • destinationRegionLaunchInstance - Launches an Amazon EC2 Instance using the copied AMI.

  • branchAssertDestinationAmiToDelete - Branches based on the value you provided for the KeepImageDestinationRegion parameter.

  • deregisterDestinationAmiAndDeleteSnapshots - Deregisters the copied AMI and deletes associated snapshots.

  • branchAssertSourceAmiTodelete - Branches based on the value you provided for the KeepImageSourceRegion parameter.

  • deregisterSourceAmiAndDeleteSnapshots - Deregisters the AMI created from the source instance and deletes associated snapshots.

  • sleep - Sleeps the automation for 2 seconds. This is a terminal step.

Outputs

sameRegionLaunchInstanceWithKeyPair.InstanceIds

sameRegionLaunchInstanceWithoutKeyPair.InstanceIds

destinationRegionLaunchInstance.DestinationInstanceId